Hill Heat

In response to the Kansas state’s decision to deny permits for two new Sunflower Electric coal plants, a group funded by Sunflower Electric placed a newspaper ad arguing that

without new, next-generation coal-fueled plants, Kansans will be captive to high-priced natural gas, allowing hostile foreign countries to control the energy policy of Kansas and America. We are already held hostage to some of these same countries for oil.

The text of the ad runs below full-color photographs of Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Natural Gas Supply Association and Kansas Gas Service have not yet responded.

In late September Congress sent the Water Resources Development Act (HR 1495) with veto-proof majorities in both chambers to the President’s desk. On Friday he vetoed the bill, which would authorizing funding for Army Corps of Engineers projects, including major projects for coastal Louisiana, the Mississippi River, and the Florida Everglades. This is Bush’s fifth veto of his presidency.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote tomorrow to override the veto, and the Senate will follow suit this week. Top Republicans, such as Rep. John L. Mica (Fla.), ranking member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I), and Sen. James Inhofe (Ok.), ranking member of the Environment & Public Works Committee, have vowed to help override the veto.

Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.) and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Tex.) issued this T&I statement:

It is simply irresponsible for President Bush to veto the only WRDA legislation that has made it to his desk since he took office. Our country cannot afford more setbacks on water resources issues and projects that are critical to our Nation’s economy, as well as to our communities.

As the experiences of the last few months have demonstrated, America’s infrastructure is in dire need. Whether the issue is bridges that collapse in Minnesota or levees that fail in New Orleans, our nation’s infrastructure has reached a critical juncture and may be on the verge of failure. How many more failures do we need before this administration understands the importance of investing in the repair, replacement, and sustainability of our nation’s infrastructure? The American people’s lives and livelihoods depend on safe, reliable, and dependable roads, bridges, levees, and navigation corridors.

Continue reading for a review of HR 1495.

On Thursday and Friday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors met at the 2007 Mayors Climate Summit, the flowering of the Mayors Climate Potection Agreement, the initiative Seattle mayor Greg Nickels began in 2005 to commit to reduce his city’s emissions. More than 700 mayors have since joined the agreement. Al Gore (by satellite), Bill Clinton, and Michael Bloomberg addressed the summit. As reported by The New York Times:

Part pep rally, part policy discussion, the conference presented two main themes: the federal government must do more than the Bush administration has done to fight global warming; and in the meantime, cities must take up the slack.

Spurred by Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle, more than 700 mayors have signed a pledge to reduce their cities’ emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to levels laid out in the Kyoto Protocol. That treaty, signed by the United States but never ratified by the Senate, called for reducing such emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Mr. Nickels issued a report this week showing that Seattle had already exceeded that goal. On Friday, he listed city initiatives like promoting locally produced foods, distributing 300,000 high-efficiency shower heads and encouraging residents to trade in their gasoline-powered mowers for electric or nonmotorized versions. But it helps that Seattle gets its power from hydroelectric dams, not coal or natural gas.

At this week’s subcommittee markup of Lieberman-Warner (S 2191), Senators Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced several amendments, some of which were adopted. The full list gives a good sense of the ideological, political, and economic battles to come as the full Environment and Public Works Committee holds hearings on the bill.

Thanks to the responsive communications staff of each senator, Hill Heat has summaries of all the amendments. See the Sanders amendments in the previous post.

Amendments were defeated unless otherwise noted.

1. Withdrawn after promise from Baucus to work on idea Rocky Mountain Center for the Study of Coal Utilization The amendment would designate the University of Wyoming and authorize a dollar amount. The State of Wyoming and the University of Wyoming have aggressively moved forward with establishing a School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming. From their Website: The School of Energy Resources seeks to advance the state of the art in energy-related science, technology, and economics through world-class research, attracting premier scholars and teachers to Wyoming.
2. Withdrawn after promise from Baucus to work on idea Promote high-altitude coal gasification It would provide funds for demonstration projects at 4,000 feet above sea level to mirror guidelines in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Developing technology that works at altitude benefits the United States, as well as other nations that operate coal power generation facilities at higher altitudes.
3. Adopted, with change to floor of 10,000 btu/lb Provide a definition for what coal is eligible under section 4403 Coal eligible must provide an energy content of 9,000 btu per pound. It attaches a definition to the term “lower rank” coal in the bill. It only mentions sub-bituminous and lignite.
4. Adopted Restore States’ allocation to 5% percent under the General Allocation in Title III by reducing the allocation for International Forest Protection The amendment retains the states’ money, even after an allocation for tribes is made.
5. Withdrawn Provide achievable carbon sequestration standard for new coal powered plants in Title III The carbon sequestration standard would be a gradually increasing one, to allow improvements in our ability to sequester carbon over time. 45% through 2020; 65% from 2021-2040; and 85% by 2041. There is currently no known technology that can capture and sequester 85%. If we want to begin addressing the impacts, we must be realistic in what can be accomplished and build on what we can achieve today.
6. Cap biofuels Expand the definition of covered facilities to include any facility that in a year produces or imports transportation fuel which will emit more than 10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gas assuming no capture and permanent sequestration of that gas. (It previously singled out only petroleum and coal-based fuels)
7. American Jobs and Family Budget Security Commission The amendment adds a new title to the bill to establish the American Jobs and Family Budget Security Commission, which will study the economic impact to Federal and State budgets of the underlying bill before implementation
8. Sunset The amendment creates a new title under the bill to sunset the bill in five years to review emission goals. We must revisit emission caps to determine whether we are able to achieve the standards set out by the bill.

At this week’s subcommittee markup of Lieberman-Warner (S 2191), Senators Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced several amendments, some of which were adopted. The full list gives a good sense of the ideological, political, and economic battles to come as the full Environment and Public Works Committee holds hearings on the bill.

Thanks to the responsive communications staff of each senator, Hill Heat has summaries of all the amendments, and the full text of those introduced by Sanders. Sen. Barrasso’s amendments will be described in the next post.

Amendments were defeated unless otherwise noted.

SANDERS

1. Funding for Renewables from the Auction Proceeds The amendment will specify that no less than 28% of the funds under the “zero and low carbon energy technologies program” will be used for renewables (as defined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005). The 28% is the same percentage as the maximum amount available to the “advanced coal and sequestration technologies program.”
2. Reduce Funding for Vehicle Re-tooling & Provide Funding for Energy and Environmental Block Grants This amendment would reduce from 20% to 4% the amount of funding from the auction revenues that would be provided to the automobile manufacturing sector and would put the 16% difference into funding an energy and environmental block grant program, whose purposes are to assist State, Indian tribal, and local governments in implementing strategies -
   1. to reduce fossil fuel emissions created as a result of activities within the boundaries of the States or units of local government in an environmentally sustainable way that, to the maximum extent practicable, maximizes benefits for local and regional communities;
   2. to reduce the total energy use of the States, Indian tribes, and units of local government; and
   3. to improve energy efficiency in the transportation sector, building sector, and any other appropriate sectors.
3. Adopted Increase the Accountability for the Automobile Manufacturing Sector Under the Auction Proceeds This amendment would change language in the bill so that to get funding from the auction, the automobile industry would have to be making vehicles that get “at least 35 miles per gallon combined fuel economy calculated on an energy-equivalent basis.”
4. Withdrawn; similar text in substitute amendment Scientific Lookback This amendment would require the EPA Administrator, following a report by the National Academies of Sciences (required by the underlying language), to promulgate regulations to tighten the emissions caps if the latest science suggests that we are not on track to avert a 2 degree Celsius increase in global average temperature.
5. Decrease the Amount of Years Free Allowances Are Given Away to Power Plants & Industry This amendment would reduce, by 10 years, the amount of time the power sector and the industrial sector are given pollution permits (for free by the federal government).
   • 5a. Increase the Amount of Allowances Allocated to the Climate Change Credit Corporation This amendment would change the numbers in the table under section 3201 (Percentage of Emission Allowance Account Allocated to the Corporation) to reflect the decrease in the amount of time that the power sector and industrial sector are given free pollution permits under Sanders amendment # 5.
6. Coal-fired Power Plants This amendment specifies that no coal-fired power plant will commence operation unless it captures and sequesters at least 85% of its CO2.
7. Withdrawn New Entrant Allowances for Renewables Only This amendment would only allow utility-scale renewable projects to receive allowances under the new entrant provision in the bill.
8. Offsets This amendment would limit offsets to an annual amount of no more than 420 million metric tons of allowances, instead of allowing each entity to meet 15% of its emissions reductions with offsets.
9. Emission Reduction Targets This amendment will require the Administrator to promulgate annual emission limits to reduce total US greenhouse gas emissions by 15% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2005 levels by 2050

Based on this morning’s listing, as Step It Up 2 gets underway:

HOUSE

Leadership

• Nancy Pelosi (Cal.), Speaker of the House
• Chris Van Hollen (Md.), DCCC Chair

Not participating: Hoyer, Clyburn, Emanuel, Larson, and the Republican leadership

Energy Independence and Global Warming

• Ed Markey (Mass.), chairman
• Earl Blumenauer
• Jay Inslee
• Jerry McNerney

Not participating: Larson, Solis, Herseth Sandlin, Cleaver, Hall, and every Republican

Energy and Commerce

• Tom Allen (Maine)
• Lois Capps (Cal.)
• Charles Gonzalez (Tex.)
• Baron Hill (Ind.)
• Jay Inslee (Wash.)
• Ed Markey (Mass.), chairman of Global Warming Committee
• George Radanovich (R-Cal.)
• Henry Waxman (Cal.), chair of Oversight and Government Reform Committee
• Anthony Weiner (NY)

Not participating: Baldwin, Barrow, Boucher, Butterfield, DeGette, Dingell (chair), Doyle, Engel, Eshoo, Gordon, Green, Harman, Hooley, Matheson, Melancon, Ross, Rush, Schakowsky, Solis, Stupak, Towns, Wynn, and all Republicans except Radanovich

Agriculture

• Mike McIntyre (NC)
• Brad Ellsworth (Ind.)
• Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
• Steve Kagen (Wis.)
• Nick Lampson (Tex.)
• Joe Donnelly (Ind.)

Not participating: Baca, Barrow, Boswell, Boyda, Cardoza, Costa, Cuellar, Lincoln Davis, Etheridge, Herseth Sandlin, Holden, Tim Mahoney, Marshall, Peterson (chair), Pomeroy, Salazar, Scott, Space, Walz, every Republican

People in italics are sending a representative or a statement of support to a Step It Up event.

At today’s markup of Lieberman Warner (S 2191), changes were made to win the support of Sen. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), ensuring passage by a 4-3 vote (Sanders, Isakson, and Barrasso voting no) to send the bill to the full Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The changes, according to CQ:

• Extending the scope of the bill to cover all emissions from the use of natural gas. The introduced bill covered natural gas burned in power plants and industrial processes but not in commercial and residential buildings.
• Requiring the EPA to make recommendations to Congress based on periodic reports from the National Academy of Sciences. The bill already would direct the academy to evaluate whether changes in the law are necessary, based on the state of the environment and available technology.

These were two of the four specific changes called for by NRDC at the initial hearing on the bill.

Amendments were introduced by Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Barrasso (R-Wyo.). Changes made by amendments adopted at the markup:

• Advanced tech auto funding limited to vehicles with minimum of 35 mpg (Sanders 3)
• More allocations given to states, taken from international forest protection (Barrasso 4)
• Definition of lower-rank coal eligible for 25% of CCS funding changed from “for example, bituminous and lignite” to coal with a heat content below 10000 BTU/lb (Barrasso 3)

Sen. Isakson reiterated his passion for nuclear power, and Barrasso argued for stronger coal subsidies, a sentiment supported by Sen. Baucus. Lautenberg compared their role to that of doctors faced with a sick patient who could become terminal, asking why anyone would withhold the necessary medicine. The Senators often laughed about their needs to compromise and balance each others’ parochial interests.

VOINOVICH Speaking at the National Press Club on Friday, Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), a member of the Committee on Envrionment and Public Works, criticized the “overly aggressive first phase of emission reductions” in the draft Lieberman-Warner legislation, which calls for the Sanders-Boxer target of reduction to 1990 levels of emissions (15% reduction from 2005 levels) by 2015.

According to CQ (subscriber only):

Voinovich said that legislation should include financial incentives for technological development and deployment, such as loan guarantees, government procurement programs and international technology transfer promotion.

“Let’s do a Manhattan project,” Voinovich said. “Let’s do an Apollo project.”

Without new technologies, he warned, coal-fired power plants would simply switch over to using natural gas

ISAKSON Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) will introduce a “nuclear title” amendment at the subcommittee markup tomorrow for more nuclear power plant incentives. At last week’s hearing, Isakson said it was “just crazy” to not support nuclear power. Update: Isakson may miss the markup to attend a White House meeting on the Georgia drought. David Roberts notes the irony that means Isakson won’t be able to support subsidies for the most water-intensive source of electricity.

ALEXANDER Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) sits on the EPW committee. He believes the cap-and-trade system should not apply to the transportation sector through the “upstream” cap on refiners and fuel importers, instead only applying a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) such as that in S. 1324 and HR 2215.

According to CQ, Alexander will amend Alexander-Lieberman (S 1168), a power-sector cap-and-trade bill, to include transportation and building efficiency standards.

INHOFE Inhofe, EPW’s ranking member, continues to challenge the science of climate change.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is on Daily Kos asking for questions for tomorrow’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing, Wildfires and the Climate Crisis.

In an effort to expand the dialogue around this issue, I am seeking ideas, thoughts and questions prior to the hearing. Please have a look at the hearing information below and then post your thoughts in the comment section of this blog. Time for Q&A is limited during Congressional hearings, but I ]will read all posts beforehand in an effort to inject your ideas into this important debate.

Erich Pica, Friends of the Earth:

The Lieberman-Warner bill will reward corporate polluters by handing them pollution permits worth almost half a trillion dollars. And that’s just one part of this bill. The bill also includes hundreds of billions of dollars of other mind-boggling giveaways. The levels of pollution-rewarding giveaways in this bill are truly obscene.

In calculating the value of emissions allowances, FoE follows the estimates of EPA’s analysis of McCain-Lieberman (Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, S. 280) which estimated that between 2015 and 2050, the price of emissions permits would increase from an average of $14 to $78 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.

Friends of the Earth’s analysis found that the bill:

• Provides the coal industry and other fossil fuel industries pollution permits worth $436 billion over the life of the legislation; 58 percent of this amount goes to coal (sec. 3901)
• Returns revenue raised through auctions directly to polluters—for example, an additional $324 billion would subsidize the coal industry’s efforts to develop carbon capture and storage mechanisms (sec. 3601)
• Directs another $522 billion of auction revenue to low or zero-emissions technologies, which could result in handouts to the nuclear power, big hydro and coal industries, which are not clean (these funds could also be directed toward important clean technologies, such as wind and solar—the legislation is not specific) (sec. 4401)